


Sleep Tight

by Lanceeselhombre



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, How Do I Tag, It’s hinted at that Keith+Krolia are bonding, Keith is a toddler, Keith is still with the BoM but on the castleship for plot reasons, Lance is a sweet boyfriend, M/M, Not literally, Pacifiers, Post Season 5, Read and you’ll get what I mean, This touches upon how being 2 species would mess with your age, Yet another sleep theme fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:31:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14268015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanceeselhombre/pseuds/Lanceeselhombre
Summary: Lance and Keith recently started dating, and one night Lance discovers a surprising secret.//Or after Keith reunites with his mom he learns a few things about himself and tries to keep it from the team.





	Sleep Tight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys I’m sorry I haven’t been updating my chapter fics! I haven’t had time lately to sit down and give them the attention they need, so until I have that time I’m going to be writing these smaller oneshots and presents. 
> 
> This is based off a few hcs I’ve dicussed with @Batteryfics about Keith being younger in Galran years than human years, and how that would affect his development. 
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Lance and Keith had been dating for a little over two months when they first started sleeping in the same bed. The idea was new to Keith, as he hadn’t dated anyone long enough to reach that step, much less sleep with his own parents as a child, so he had been hesitant to agree, but after a week’s worth of convincing he said yes. Lance had been ecstatic to hear Keith relent, because unlike Keith, who was not accustomed to things like cuddling and general affection, he grew up thriving on hugs and kisses and _especially_ cuddles.

Although, the arrangement didn’t offer as much as it had implied. Lance tended to go to sleep at a normal or slightly earlier time than most people; Keith, on the other hand, preferred to be up until the ungodly hours of the early morning. Needless to say, there wasn’t much cuddling going on, much to Lance’s sadness.

Especially now that Keith was a part of the blade. The blade of Marmora must be on a different time schedule than the ship, because it seemed like he went to bed much later than he used to when he was still a paladin (not that Lance would know.) The appearance of his mother didn’t help much either. Keith had started spending a lot of time with her, and they usually did so at night after their responsibilities were taken care of. (Lance wasn’t jealous or upset that his boyfriend was spending time with his mom though. He actually encouraged him, he just noticed that he’d started coming to bed later after they reunited.)

But instead of letting that get him down, Lance started changing his sleeping habits to match Keith’s a little better. That did not mean he started forfeiting sleep- he wouldn’t give up his precious beauty sleep for anything- it simply meant that he started taking naps during the day so he could stay up later, but not at the expense of being tired. He was hoping that if he was awake when Keith got in bed they could cuddle for a bit.

The first day Lance put his plan into motion, he still went to bed ‘on time,’ but read on an Altean tablet instead of sleeping to pass the time. It had been several hours and Lance had read through the end of his current book and moved on to a new one before he heard footsteps approaching the bedroom. Knowing it was Keith- his footfalls were heavy, unlike any of their other teammates- he powered off his tablet and set it to the side, getting comfortable in a position that he normally took in his sleep.

A moment later, the door to the bedroom swished open and Keith entered the room. Lance heard a bit of faint rustling as Keith wrestled off his boots and hung up his jacket, then the sound of their closet swishing open and hangers clicking together. Lance smiled faintly to himself at that, happy Keith had started changing into pajamas for bed- he slept in his day clothes when he was by himself, only agreeing to wear something else because Lance complained that he needed to learn to relax.

Once Keith was dressed for bed, he closed the closet and padded across the room to the bed. Unaware that his partner was awake, he climbed onto the mattress next to him and rearranged the blankets to cover him as well, then leaned over Lance to grab something from one of the drawers of the bureau.

Lance was a little confused to hear something clack- presumably a container opening and closing or something touching Keith’s teeth (don’t question how he knows that sound.) He stayed still despite his growing curiosity at what Keith was doing as the teen laid down again, the sheets rustling while he got comfortable.

It was then that Lance decided to make his awareness known. He opened his eyes, planning to say some flirty comment, when he stopped, the words on the tip of his tongue.

Keith- who hadn’t noticed he was looking at him yet and was still getting comfortable- had a foreign-looking, clear, what appeared to be plastic object between his lips. The guard- as in something akin to a retainer or sports guard- was still hanging well out of his mouth, as he hadn’t actually put the thing in his mouth yet. The rest of it, which was the part that he was holding onto with his lips, looked suspiciously like the nipple of a pacifier.

The first conclusion that Lance’s mind jumped to was that Keith was a part-time little and hadn’t told him yet. (It personally didn’t seem to fit in his mind; Keith was too hot-headed in his opinion to be a little young enough to have a pacifier, but he’d been exposed to the concept back on earth via the internet. In his brain’s confusion, that was the only idea it could come up with.)

“Hey nene.” Lance whispered, not wanting to lose the charm he’d wanted to greet his boyfriend with even in his confused (and consequently curious) state. _Nene_ was one of many nicknames he’d given to Keith simply because it was an endearing term of affection in his mother language, but if his assumption was true then the nickname fit even more now.

Keith jumped at his boyfriend’s voice, having obviously thought that he’d been sleep. He immediately yanked the object from his mouth and hid it in his palm under the blanket, in what was probably a vain attempt to keep Lance from seeing it. “God, Lance you scared the fuck out of me.” He groaned, his tone characteristically huffy.

Lance let a smile grow on his face from the reaction. Not wasting any time, he was quick to address the elephant in the room. “So, what have you got here?” He asked curiously, his tone keeping its flirty perk as his hand slid under the sheets to meet Keith’s clenched fist.

He’d come to learn that, while the former paladin wasn’t particularly fond of flirting- although Lance could never stop flirting with him over that- he did have a thing for any tone with a soft edge. Something about them lowered his walls and made him less inclined to be defensive or react aggressively, which would be a huge gain for Lance in this situation. He wanted to know what Keith wasn’t telling him, both for the health of their relationship and just because he was curious and admittedly nosy.

Keith pulled his hand back despite Lance’s gentle touch and held it to his chest. “A present from my mother.” He replied truthfully, although that only confused the red paladin more.

Lance couldn’t help but give him a skeptical look. “Your mother gave you a pacifier?” He asked, dropping the flirting in favor of disbelief.

“It’s not a pac-“ Keith started to argue in his defense before cutting himself off with a deep sigh. Starting again, he said, “It’s a dummy.”

“What’s a dummy?” Lance asked quizzically.

Keith looked ready to tell him to forget it or maybe even get up and leave to escape the situation, but the brunette saw a shift in his eyes and the apprehension drained from them. With another sigh, he said, “If I tell you, you can’t make fun of me. And you can't tell anyone.”

Lance was quick to agree to his conditions. “I am sworn to secrecy. No jokes.” He promised, crossing his heart with his finger in a motion that made Keith roll his eyes. Still, it seemed like the other teen appreciated the attempt at humor as he gathered his thoughts to explain himself.

“So you know I’m 18.” Keith started, in probably what was the most seemingly random place to begin an explanation. Nevertheless, Lance nodded his acknowledgment, and Keith continued. “Well, my mom has been introducing me to Galran culture and stuff like that, and she told me that Galra children- she calls them ‘kits’- grow up much slower than humans do. So, believe it or not, according to her I’m…only three years old. Or the Galra part of me is.” He explained, stuttering between his sentences as he tried to figure out how to tell his boyfriend that he was technically much younger than they both originally thought.

Lance couldn’t stop himself. “I’m dating a toddler.” He said, his voice clear with revelation.

“Well fuck you too.” Keith shot back, taking offense at the statement.

Before he could get any more upset, Lance clarified himself. “Wait, I didn’t mean anything bad by that!” It had been more of the shock of being told his boyfriend was 3 that made him say that. “I think it’s cute. I mean, obviously you’re still 18 year old human Keith and nothing’s changed, but it’s adorable that the Galra race sees you as a little kid.” He rambled, probably not helping himself much.

Keith gave him the stink eye, but Lance seemed to have pacified him. He didn’t continue explaining, however, so the brunette gave him a nudge. “So how does that explain why your mom gave you a dummy?” He asked, deciding at the last second it would be better for his health to not call it a pacifier.

Also, he was really curious as to how it made sense for Krolia to be introducing Keith to a pacifier (he was pretty sure it was the same thing as a ‘dummy’) when ‘3’ was within the age range where parents usually started weaning their children off of pacifiers. And Keith also had the physical body of an 18 year old and it just didn’t make sense to him at all in that regard.

After a moment of begrudged staring, the teen began explaining again. “Kits mentally mature in stages, kind of like how that philosophy dude says- what was his name, Freud?- his whole theory about physcosexual development, it’s kind of the same thing. I guess when Galra are in a certain stage and the requirements to move on aren’t met, they get ‘stuck’ and can’t continue maturing until that stage is satisfied.

“And the first stage is oral.” He said, his cheeks heating up a bit. He was obviously embarrassed to be admitting this information to his boyfriend. “Galra can apparently nurse for up to two years- my mom said it has something to do with bonding and immune systems- and that’s around when they start weaning off of it. But I would have turned ‘2’ when I was like 12, and a 12 year old would not be walking around sucking on a pacifier. So I got stuck in stage one.

“This” Keith stated, finally uncovering the piece of plastic in his palm for Lance to see. It looked like a standard pacifier, only the guard had no handle and the nipple was a different shape than normal. “is supposed to help me get past the first stage.”

“And before you say anything it’s still not a pacifier.” Keith pointed out. “It’s a dummy, which is like the Galra equivalent.”

Lance wanted so badly to say that it was still a pacifier by definition, but he didn’t. Instead, he let Keith continue. “And mine is supposed to ‘invisible’: the whole thing goes in my mouth so no one can see it’s there. My mom understands that even if I’m really young in her species, I’m all grown up as a human, so she got me one that I could hide. So no one would have to know.” He murmured, his voice softening to an almost melancholy tone by the end. He looked down at the dummy and gently rubbed his thumb over it, almost in a loving way.

Lance waited a minute to make sure Keith was done speaking before he took the chance to say something himself. There was a lot going through his mind on the matter, but he managed to gather his thoughts enough to say, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you should have to hide the fact that you’re working towards a developmental milestone. It might be a bit new to me because I know nothing about Galra, but it’s not _weird_ or anything.

“Hell, if anything it’s endearing.” Lance said, catching Keith’s attention. The teen perked at that and looked up at his boyfriend, causing the brunette to smile. “You’ve been missing your mom and a whole part of yourself for most of your life, and now you’re getting the chance to make up for lost time and discover the side of yourself you never knew existed. Yeah, it’s cute that you’re only in stage one, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything to be ashamed of. If it’ll help you, you should start using it all the time.” The red paladin explained, succeeding in getting Keith to give him a smile, even if it was just a lopsided smirk.

“I don’t think you understand how much this thing affects me.” He said. “Dummies are meant to be comfort objects, they calm babies down and help them sleep. So if I was using it during the day I’d be sleepy and overly relaxed all the time. And I can’t talk with it in my mouth.”

“Is there a downside to that I’m missing?” Lance asked.

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re too much sometimes.” He said.

“Than that means I’m doing my job well.” Lance replied, smiling widely.

Keth only shook his head fondly at his boyfriend. After a moment he opened his mouth in a wide yawn, clearly tired from being up so late. It was then that Lance decided they should end their conversation and go to bed- or in his case, back to bed.

He got comfortable again under the sheets and patted the mattress next to him, urging Keith to lay down next to him. “Alright, come on. Suck on your dummy, lay down, go to sleep. You’re tired.” He said, very nonchalant in his words for someone who just learned his boyfriend was a toddler in another species who still nursed himself to sleep. It wasn’t weird though, like he’d said; he’d seen and heard of much more odd things since they ventured into space.

Keith’s face flushed red at that. This was not an issue that he was as comfortable with as Lance was. He hesitated before laying down next to the other teen, getting comfortable as well. He glanced down at the dummy in his hand and then to Lance, still unsure despite all of his boyfriend’s reassurances. “You’re really okay with it? You’re not gonna make fun of me?” He asked, needing to make sure.

Lance nodded his head with slight over-exaggerated movements. “Yes, I’m  
okay with it. How many times do I gotta said it isn’t weird? If it helps you then go ahead and do it. I’m not stopping you.” He said.

It was rougher than Keith had expected, but that was all the confirmation he needed. “Okay.” He replied. He popped the dummy in his mouth, adjusting it to sit correctly over his teeth so it didn’t dig into his lips or gums. Then, once he was sure he wouldn’t accidentally choke on it in his sleep, he began to nurse.

His body immediately relaxed, soothed by the calming effect the action had on him. His eyes fluttered closed and he let out a content sigh, already beginning to comfortably drift off.

Lance chuckled softly at how quickly he became like putty melting across the mattress, and all because he was sucking on a piece of plastic. Of all the things he’d learned about the Galra in the past few months, _this_ was the best thing. Granted, Keith was only half Galra, but the half of him that was Galra was just a big sweetheart.

And the Galra were the ones trying to violently take over the universe. Go figure.

The brunette leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead. Keith didn’t react, probably already asleep, judging by his even breathing and relaxed expression. Lance smiled fondly at that, finding it absolutely adorable. “Goodnight nene.”


End file.
